Salem Badughaish
FOT: SAUDI GAZETTE
In a groundbreaking development for the Saudi Professional League, Portuguese international Ruben Neves' transfer to Al-Hilal Club has led to a significant spike in the league's market value. Neves' transfer, with a deal worth 40 million euros, has positioned him as the most expensive player in the league, outpacing French striker Karim Benzema, who recently joined Al-Ittihad Club in a free transfer deal for three seasons from Real Madrid.
Benzema's market value stood at 20 million euros, a sum that is now dwarfed by Neves' massive transfer fee. To put this into further context, the value of another famous Portuguese player, Ronaldo, was 15 million euros when he joined Al-Nassr in the previous winter transfer market. Other notable players such as French international N'Golo Kanté from Al-Ittihad and Brazilian Anderson Talisca from Al-Nassr also carry a market value of 15 million euros, placing them joint fourth in the list.
Other top players in the Saudi Professional League include Gelson Conand from Al-Nassr with a value of 8 million euros, Michel Delgado from Al-Hilal with a value of 8 million euros, and Argentine player Bebe Martínez from Al-Nassr with a value of 7 million euros. Carlos Junior from Al-Shabab and Igor Coronado from Al-Ittihad come in ninth and tenth with a market value of 6.5 million euros and 6 million euros respectively.
Al-Hilal Club's announcement of Ruben Neves' signing has been met with incredible enthusiasm, as evidenced by the overwhelming response on social media. A video of Neves donning the "World Runner-Up" shirt has garnered over 100 million views within a mere span of 16 hours, outperforming even Cristiano Ronaldo's signing announcement with Al-Nassr which held the previous record at 100 million views over six months. This intense engagement has propelled Al-Hilal's Twitter account to have the most views for a tweet from a Saudi club account, averaging an impressive 10 million views per hour.
This surge in market value and social media attention signifies the immense business potential brought about by the ongoing summer transfer market in Saudi football. It remains to be seen how these developments will further impact the league and its global standing.
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